Walking the Tightrope

“In the third and fourth Untimely Ones. Two images of the hardest self-love, self-discipline are put up against all this, as pointers to a higher concept of culture, to restore the concept of culture – untimely types par excellence , full of sovereign contempt for everything around them that was called “Empire,” “culture,” “Christianity,” “Bismarck,” “success,” – Schopenhauer and Wagner or, in one word, Nietzsche.” (Ecce Homo, 1888, "The Untimely Ones", section 1) So, years later, Fritz saw more of himself than Wagner (who was dead by then) in his 1876 essay entitled Richard Wagner at Bayreuth . The essay is the last of four that are collected under the heading of Untimely Meditations or Unmodern Observations (which is the translation I own). Nietzsche worked on a fifth essay pertaining to philology but he never completed it. Originally, he and his publisher were anticipating about a dozen essays, but no more were ever written or published under this heading. Once more we...

"As well as being happy in his cave (his apartment), Nietzsche enjoyed a vibrant social life. He was regularly to be found in the homes of colleagues and in Basel's best patrician houses - often overlapping categories since many of the professors came from the best families." ( Young , page 165) Indeed, the man who became Basel's prodigy professor entered his academic career full of social life, just as he had enjoyed in Bonn and Leipzig before. "In the first years of his being (in Basel) he had a rich social life that included dance-evenings. The young women were enchanted with him." (Young, page 202) We have seen glimpses of Nietzsche’s mind and personality in his own writings and letters. But, there is a large body of material available regarding what those who knew Fritz thought of him. A clearer picture of just who Nietzsche was can be found when one takes their writings into consideration. Fritz enjoyed many friendships in his student days at Pforta ...